NEW YORK—Brandon Prust's coach and teammates stuck up for him in the wake of the elbow he delivered to Anton Volchenkov's head on Saturday afternoon.

In the end, that didn't much matter—the Rangers forward was suspended by the NHL for Monday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between New York and the New Jersey Devils.

The two players came together along the wall in New Jersey's end, and Prust pulled his arm back and let his elbow fly into the back of Volchenkov's helmet. Volchenkov dropped to the ice and stayed down briefly before getting back to his skates and returning to the bench.

The Rangers went on to win 3-0 and take a 2-1 series lead. Afterward, Devils coach Peter DeBoer called the hit "headhunting. Plain and simple."

Prust, outside of the Volchenkov hit, had never been fined or suspended by the league—a fact not lost on the Rangers.

"I know that I played a lot of professional hockey games. Never been suspended before. I don't even think I've had an elbowing penalty this year. So I'm sure they'll take that into account," Prust said, adding that he didn't intend to hit Volchenkov high and saying that the defenseman's decision to dip before contact played a part.

Rangers coach John Tortorella took it a step further, using the situation to call attention to his perception that the Devils go too far in their attempts to buy calls and aren't clean themselves.

"(Prust is) probably one of the most honest players," Tortorella said. "I look at (Dainius Zubrus') elbow to (Anton) Stralman. I look at (Zach) Parise launching himself at (Michael) Del Zotto. Maybe if our players stay down on the ice, we'll get something. We tell our players don't stay down on the ice, get up."

Tortorella also brought up what he believed to be a pick by Devils forward Patrik Elias that led to a power-play goal by Ilya Kovalchuk in the Devils' Game 2 win.

DeBoer's one-word response: "Comical."

Brad Richards and Marc Staal both defended Prust and said they hoped officials would pay closer attention to the Devils' tactics.

"But either way, we have to play a game tomorrow night. And no matter what goes on around us or outside of the team in the game, we're getting ready for that," Richards said. "If Prusty is not with us tomorrow or if he is, it's the same mindset for everybody else in here."